View of Basil Honey produced by Ruhnama in Daman district, Kandahar province

In Daman District of Kandahar Province, Ms Ruhnama, a 44-year-old widow and mother of six children, used to face the daily challenge of providing for her family's needs amid economic downturn. She was lucky to be selected for a beekeeping programme that targeted her village because it is surrounded by lush farmlands, fields and trees that provide an abundance of nectar and pollen for honeybees.

FAO Afghanistan is operating a programme to increase the amount of bees in Afghanistan with the support of the Special Trust Fund for Afghanistan (STFA). In this programme, implemented locally by the NGO Future Generations Afghanistan, each beneficiary receives a package consisting of five beehives and a small toolkit, allowing them to embark on the beekeeping journey and create a sustainable source of income. Fifty households were selected as beneficiaries in Daman, on criteria of poverty (Ruhnama owns no land), vulnerability (as a woman she cannot find work outside her home) and need (she has to feed her three young children).

Ruhnama told us "Before I started my honeybee farming, I worked from home, helping my neighbor to earn extra money for my family. It was tough because I earned very little." Future Generations Afghanistan (FGA), which implements this programme for FAO in other provinces of Afghanistan too, has trained and experienced apiculturists working for them. After a collective training session for the fifty beneficiaries, FGA stayed on to provide on-the-job training and advice. Indeed apiculture – raising honey bees – is not an easy skill. It also requires courage to extract the honey from the hives, surrounded by a swarm of disturbed bees.

Ruhnama started her honeybee farm in September 2023. She became passionate about beekeeping and decided to turn it into a profitable business. After months of hard work, her bee farm began producing up to 25 kg of high-quality honey every month. The honey quickly gained popularity due to its superior quality and she could sell it at a reasonable price, averaging 900 Afghani ($13) per kg in the local market. Within Afghanistan Daman is well-known for its basil production, and the honey obtained by bees feeding on its pollen is exquisite, fetching high prices among honey lovers. This newfound source of income helped her to meet her family's daily expenses.

Ruhnama spends long hours caring for her bees and maintaining the hives. She verifies occasionally that her bees can access enough basil and other flowers to produce the best quality honey. She extracts the honey carefully, and packages it hygienically and attractively to attract customers. Overall, her honeybee farm has become successful, not just in terms of profit but also as a source of personal satisfaction and of food for her family.

With the additional income, she can afford private school fees and essential items for her three young children. Interestingly, she is from a very conservative family who previously thought it unthinkable that a woman should provide for herself and her children by earning income from her work. Undeterred, she plans to expand her business by increasing the number of beehives and generate additional revenue.

This has increased her standing in her community; now she has inspired other women to pursue their own dreams. Her female neighbors have approached FGA with proposals to start a similar business. But such opportunities as Ruhnama grabbed do not come every day, so these ladies have asked their husbands to approach private sector operators to start their own bee farms.

In the second half of 2023, FAO distributed over 1000 beekeeping packages in 16 provinces of Afghanistan. It is now well known that bees play an essential role in pollinating plants, and thus in the vitality of ecosystems, besides providing the honey so beloved by human beings. Thus, while the primary goal of this programme is to provide livelihoods to the most vulnerable of Afghanistan’s rural populations, a secondary effect obtained is strengthening Afghanistan’s biodiverse ecosystems.

We hope that one day our readers can taste Daman’s basil honey themselves.